


Restless Nights

by Random_Nerd3



Series: Tales of Arcadia Fanfic [4]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro, Wizards - Daniel Kraus & Guillmero del Toro
Genre: Angst, Claire Nunez Is A Good Bro, Douxie needs a hug, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not sorry, Nightmares, Spoilers for Wizards, let douxie rest, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25825390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Nerd3/pseuds/Random_Nerd3
Summary: While training with Claire Douxie gets hit by a blast of her shadow magic. When the young master wizard falls asleep Douxie has nightmares about a time he'd rather forget.
Relationships: Claire Nunez & Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan
Series: Tales of Arcadia Fanfic [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870741
Comments: 6
Kudos: 152





	Restless Nights

Their training session had been going well, Douxie was impressed by how quickly Claire was able to pick up on new spells and magical abilities. Today Douxie had decided to take a leaf out of Merlin’s book so they were training in the forest instead of Trollmarket. One of his mentor’s earliest lessons was that you’d have no control over where the battle took place, so be prepared for any possible outcome of a battle ground. Douxie laughed as he countered Claire’s shadow magic with his own, his shield of magic blocking her attacks. The deflected magic took down some of the nearby trees, causing them to crash onto the floor. “Arugh!” The young witch-in-training groaned as she continued to fail to get a single hit in. “How are you so good?!” She yelled, firing a blast of magic with every word. Douxie leapt out of the way of each attack while began chanting for another spell. One of Claire’s bursts of magic barely skimmed the top of his head, destroying the tree Douxie was hiding behind. He winced in sympathy for the tree then flipped over the stump shouting,

“Years of training fair Claire! Telo lumen!” His offensive spell worked like a charm, bolts of lightening erupted from his right hand, scaring Claire into portaling a little further away. Douxie began chanting another spell, something that would trap Claire into a bubble of magic. She beat him to it though, eyes flashing purple and black she threw a wave of shadows in his direction too fast for Douxie to deflect. Douxie was thrown across the woods and landed on the ground, rolling until his back hit a rather large stone. Douxie coughed as he regained his balance.

“Teach!” Claire shouted, concern laced in her voice. She portaled next to him. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” She asked, helping him stand back up. Douxie nodded as he blinked his eyes back into focus. His balance still seemed to be off, so he relied on her for support.

“Of course Claire. It’ll take more than a spunky little witch to take me down!” He exclaimed, striking a victorious pose on the rock. Claire didn’t look convinced,

“I’m not too sure what I even did. I was just so angry and annoyed that I couldn’t get a hit on you and it just sort of…  _ happened _ .” Douxie nodded, sliding back down to sit an recuperate his strength.

“Magic  _ is _ emotion Claire, once you learn how to channel the energy you’ll become a formidable opponent.” Claire nodded then sat on the grass next to him. The two sat in silence, then she frowned,

“How’d you get that?” She asked Douxie, pointing at his wrist. Looking down Douxie saw what she was looking at. His original arcane must’ve fallen off his wrist during their sparring session, exposing his scar. Douxie winced then pulled his sleeve down covering the ugliness of the mark.

“Training mishap,” he said unconvincingly. At Claire’s look of disbelief he insisted, “it happened over a century ago Claire, I’m fine.” Douxie stood up, still a little wobbly from Claire’s shadow magic.

“Maybe you should stay the night at Jim’s. You know, just in case I accidentally did something… Morgana-like,” Claire said as they made their way back into town. Shaking his head Douxie protested,

“Claire it was just a little bit of shadow magic. Nothing I haven’t seen before, a good night’s rest and I’ll be right as rain.” As he spoke he felt a wave of weak energy rush through him and he stumbled forward a few steps. Claire made a sort of tsking sound then she said,

“If you don’t want to stay with Jim then you’re staying with me. No arguing, no ‘but I’m a mysterious master wizard with diabolical plans.’ Got it Douxie?” She asked. Knowing a lost battle when he saw one Douxie caved. Nodding he begrudgingly agreed,

“Alright fine, but I’m telling you, there’s _ nothing _ wrong with me.” Douxie shivered as a cold breeze blew through the street. He pulled his sweatshirt around him a little bit tighter as he followed Claire up the steps to her house. As helpful as always, Claire showed him the way to the guest room and dragged in a few extra blankets.

“It gets a little chilly in here,” she explained as she threw the heavy quilts over the bed. Douxie sunk into the mattress, suddenly exhausted from the long day of training. He caught himself absentmindely tracing the pattern of the scar wrapped around his hand. Claire nodded at the actions, “are you  _ sure _ you’ll be alright?” She asked, obviously hesitant to leave him by himself. Douxie nodded and gave her a cheeky smile,

“I’ll be fine Claire. Thanks for letting me stay the night.” The shadow witch nodded,

“What sort of friend would I be if I left you on your own? Goodnight Douxie,” she said flipping the lights off. Douxie nodded in the darkness as he whispered,

“Goodnight Claire.” As soon as his head hit the pillow his mind warped into a land of nightmares…

_ Douxie was around five centuries old at this point, still training with Merlin. They were training in the field today, Merlin wanted to give Douxie some real-life experience. “Now Douxie,” Merlin began, “you must understand… you just aren’t ready for larger spells yet. Keep practicing what you know. Once you’ve mastered your current level I shall teach you -” he cut himself off and summoned a miniature dragon made out of green flames. Douxie stared at the beast in awe as it patted it’s feet and curled up in a circle, resting in the palm of Merlin’s hand. “Spells and magic beyond what you believe is real.” Douxie accidentally ran into Merlin’s outstretched arm and his mentor dragged him behind a rather large rock. _

_ “Master, what is it?” Douxie asked, trying to peer over the stone. Merlin shoved his head down, forcing him to hide. _

_ “Trolls, gumm gumms. We must’ve traveled further into the forest than I had originally planned,” Merlin said as a familiar expression grew on his face. Douxie recognised it as Merlin’s planning-face. _

_ “How many are there?” Douxie asked eagerly, he knew the dangers of the gumm gumms, but he was itching for a fight. “We can take them!” Merlin shoved his overeager head back behind the rock. _

_ “Stay here Hisirdoux,” Merlin ordered. Douxie groaned inwardly, benched during a fight… again. It wasn’t exactly doing wonders for his self-esteem. Nevertheless, he listened to his mentor and stayed out of sight. After a few minutes of failed negotiation Douxie heard the telltale sounds of combat raging, with Merlin at the center of it. _

_ “Master Merlin!” He called out, jumping up from his hiding place in time to see his mentor blasted into a rather thick tree trunk. Merlin slid onto the ground, eyes rolling to the back of his head. The three gumm gumms turned and faced Douxie, fists balled and ready to throw. Douxie sprinted across the clearing and slid in front of his mentor, summoning a protective barrier of magic around them. “Merlin what do I do?” He asked, struggling to keep his shield up. In response Merlin’s head just leaned to the right, falling the rest of the way to the ground. “Right Hisirdoux, you’re on your own.” The gumm gumms multiplied while he was distracted, now reaching numbers of six or seven instead of three. “Damn it all!” Douxie exclaimed. He took his shield down and fired a massive wave of magic at the gumm gumms. Enemy distracted, Douxie dragged his mentor behind the tree trunk and returned to his defensive post. _

_ “Run Hisirdoux,” Merlin’s voice mumbled from behind the tree. Douxie shook his head as he summoned another offensive blast of magic, taking out two of their enemies. _

_ “You wouldn’t leave me!” He shouted, catching some of the other gumm gumms in freeze traps. He had no choice but to return to the defensive side of things. With his shield up Douxie tried to get Merlin to wake but the bastard of an old man kept muttering something about two spells at once, and a warning. Douxie’s eyes widened in realization -  _ he _ could perform two spells at once. He’d been practicing his portals, and with the help of his arcane wrist band he could perform a few blasts while doing so. Decision made he charged up his magic he kicked Merlin into the portal first. Douxie could feel the strain the double spell performance was having on his body, but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to make sure he and Merlin got back to Camelot safely. Shouting an incantation Douxie launched bolts of lightning at the gumm gumms. As he used more of his magic the young wizard-in-training felt his magic grow weaker. Soon after the gumm gumms were all destroyed he felt a hand wrap around his ankles and pull him through the portal just as his world turned to black. _

Waking up in a cold sweat Douxie grabbed at his scarred hand, the nightmare still haunted him even though he was awake. “Doux?” A soft voice asked, knocking on the door. He shivered and pulled the quilts tighter around him, suddenly grateful for the extra warmth. “Oh Douxie, it’s alright,” Claire said as she sunk into the chair next to the bed. She ran a hand through his hair trying to calm him down. “You’re okay Douxie,” Claire promised as he gripped her hand tighter with his scarred one. Douxie took a shaky breath then apologized,

“I uh, sorry about this.” He knew Claire had a lot on her plate already. She shouldn’t have to worry about a master wizard who suffered from ptsd and panic attacks. Claire didn’t stop the calming circles she was tracing on his back.

“You don’t need to apologize for having nightmares Douxie. After Jim went into the Darklands he had night terrors almost every time he closed his eyes. Do you want to talk about it?” Claire asked hesitantly. Douxie frowned,

“It was years ago. Shouldn’t bother me as much anymore.” The two fell into a comfortable silence then Douxie found himself tracing his scar again. “Merlin and I were training in the woods outside of Camelot. He wanted to give me some real-world experience or something I guess. We traveled too far and ended up in gumm gumm territory. Merlin got knocked out and well… I had to defend us both.” Claire hummed, then nodded to encourage him to continue. Douxie sighed, “we were overpowered but I couldn’t let Merlin down. I uh… it was the first time I casted two spells at once. You need years upon years of training to cast multiple spells but what other choice did I have? In the middle of the fight I used my magic to summon a portal back to the castle and used it to fight off the remaining gumm gumms.” Douxie shrugged, “I guess I passed out because I ended up waking up to having a new scar on my hand and one of Merlin’s infamous lectures of me being a foolish apprentice.

“You’re safe now though. No gumm gumms, no Morgana, no Arcane Order. The guardians of Arcadia will call us if they need any help tonight. You just rest,” Claire urged him as he settled back into the bed. Douxie gave her a small smile,

“Since when did you get so wise?” Claire chuckled,

“Since I had an amazing teacher. Sleep, Douxie. We’ll be here when you wake up in the morning. Douxie nodded and this time when he closed his eyes, he knew Claire would be there to keep the nightmares at bay.

**Author's Note:**

> Yell at me on Tumblr: @Random-nerd-3


End file.
